A marathon dramatization of a later Dickens novel, featuring Derek Jacobi and Alec Guinness.
Returning to England after many years abroad, a young man (Jacobi) seeks solutions to the mysteries in his own life and that of seamstress little Dorrit.
Jacobi was a superb choice for anchoring this huge story. For his part, Guinness has just the right mix of Dickensian humor and gravitas as little Dorrit's father. People who don't read Dickens don't understand how funny he can be (I embarrassed myself once being caught sniggering out loud as this very book).
If the feature has a drawback, it's little Dorrit herself. In Dickens, good characters are good, bad characters are bad and everyone else is beautifully weird. The problem isn't that she's goody-goody, but she's barely there at all. That's largely the fault of Dickens, since little Dorrit is little more than a cipher in the book bearing her name, despite all she does to keep her family together. But the actress playing the role here doesn't exude much of a presence, which would have been something.
However, this movie should appeal to any Dickens lover, or people who want to know what Dickens stories are all about without having to crack open his books. It's not as easy to swallow as tuneful shows like "Oliver!" or "Scrooge" but I'd rank it with the Diana Rigg "Bleak House" or the Jane Seymour "Our Mutual Friend" or the Royal Shakespeare Company's all-star "Nicholas Nickelby."
A later, more downbeat, version of "Little Dorrit" was produced in the twenty-first century, but this is my choice. And I love Dickens, on the page or the small screen.
Returning to England after many years abroad, a young man (Jacobi) seeks solutions to the mysteries in his own life and that of seamstress little Dorrit.
Jacobi was a superb choice for anchoring this huge story. For his part, Guinness has just the right mix of Dickensian humor and gravitas as little Dorrit's father. People who don't read Dickens don't understand how funny he can be (I embarrassed myself once being caught sniggering out loud as this very book).
If the feature has a drawback, it's little Dorrit herself. In Dickens, good characters are good, bad characters are bad and everyone else is beautifully weird. The problem isn't that she's goody-goody, but she's barely there at all. That's largely the fault of Dickens, since little Dorrit is little more than a cipher in the book bearing her name, despite all she does to keep her family together. But the actress playing the role here doesn't exude much of a presence, which would have been something.
However, this movie should appeal to any Dickens lover, or people who want to know what Dickens stories are all about without having to crack open his books. It's not as easy to swallow as tuneful shows like "Oliver!" or "Scrooge" but I'd rank it with the Diana Rigg "Bleak House" or the Jane Seymour "Our Mutual Friend" or the Royal Shakespeare Company's all-star "Nicholas Nickelby."
A later, more downbeat, version of "Little Dorrit" was produced in the twenty-first century, but this is my choice. And I love Dickens, on the page or the small screen.